The Committee of 100 | FYI Archives

The anti-development hue and cry in New Castle County frequently focuses on the Aout-of-control@ growth in New Castle County. In fact, growth in the last thirty years has been greater in the surrounding counties than in New Castle County. In 1970, New Castle County had a population of 385,856, Kent County had a population of 81,892, and Sussex had 80,356. By 2000, New Castle County had grown 29.7% to 500,265, Kent by 54.7% to 126,69738, and Sussex by 94.9% to 156,638. None of the eight New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or Maryland counties surrounding New Castle County had as great a percentage increase in population as Sussex County, though Harford (89.5%) and Cecil (61.%) Counties in Maryland and Chester County, Pennsylvania (55.8%) beat Kent County. Only three of the surrounding Counties (Salem County, NJ; Kent County, MD; and Delaware County, PA) had a lower growth rate than New Castle County.

Growth & Lifestyle Forum

WILMAPCO and the League of Women Voters are sponsoring a forum on land use planning and transportation. Health & Transportation: Creating Active Communities will be held on Monday, September 20, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., at the Embassy Suites, Newark. The workshop, designed to promote healthy, walkable neighborhoods, will focus on the connection between planned communities and health. According to WILMAPCO, thirty years ago, 67% of students walked or biked to school whereas today 85% percent are either bused or driven to school; currently over 64% of American adults and 15% of children are overweight or obese; and these days 75% of our car trips are less than one mile. WILMAPCO and the League are asking if there is a viable alternative in planning communities that can promote health.

Workshop speakers include Barbara McCann, author of the landmark Smart Growth America study Measuring the Health Effects of Sprawl, who will demonstrate the link between where people live and their level of fitness; Neil Payton, planner and architect for award-winning mixed-use neighborhoods and urban revitalization plans, who will use his King Farm project in Rockville, MD to show how a traditionally-designed neighborhood with options for active lifestyles can not only promote healthy living, but also, be profitable; and Jay Parker, owner of ParkerRodriguez Inc, a Washington landscape architecture and planning firm, who has spearheaded land conservation, smart growth, and urban infill projects throughout the nation, including Vail, Colorado; Celebration, Florida; and St. Charles, Maryland.

Additional speakers will include Delawareans Marihelen Barrett, Director of the Center for Children's Health Innovation, Nemours Health and Prevention Services, discussing strategies for implementing community-based programs to reduce child obesity and improve overall health, and Jay Sonecha, owner of Blenheim Homes and developer of the Bayberry communities proposed for Southern New Castle County, discussing the challenges of making "smart growth" a reality.

RSVP by September 13th to WILMAPCO at 302-737-6250 or wilmapco@wilmapco.org.

Claymont Community Redevelopment Plan

Last April, New Castle County Council approved the Hometown Overlay Zoning District (HOZD) Ordinance which established a process for allowing citizens to petition New Castle County government to establish a zoning overlay. The Hometown Zoning Overlay was intended for older villages, hamlets, or historically-identifiable areas of New Castle County to protect and promote unique characteristics or historic communities. The Ordinance requires that a Community Plan and Manual of Design Guidelines be prepared for simultaneous submission with a proposed Hometown Overlay Zoning District request. Following Council approval, a Design Review Advisory Committee, made up of individuals affected by the overlay designation and appointed by the County Executive with Council consent, must be established. The Design Review Advisory Committee will then review each land-development application within the HOZD for compliance with the Community Plan and Design Guidelines and advise the Department of Land Use of the application's compliance.

The Claymont Community Coalition, which began a visioning process in 2000, was waiting for approval of the HOZD Ordinance to submit its HOZD Plan. Via the Department of Land Use's Community Planning and Grant Program initiated in 2002, Claymont had been working for several years with the Department on its revitalization plan. Shortly after the Hometown Overlay Zoning District Ordinance was approved, Claymont submitted its Community Plan and Manual of Design Guidelines.

Ordinance 04-104 establishes a Hometown Overlay Zoning District for Claymont. Once approved, all land-use applications within the Overlay District will be regulated by the Redevelopment Plan and the Design Guidelines. The Claymont Overlay identifies three character zones: Claymont Center, the Neighborhood Transition, and the Edge. Claymont Center is urban, the "town center," the center of pedestrian activity, and will allow mixed-use redevelopment. The Neighborhood Transition Area, viewed as the gateway to Claymont Center, will allow medium density development following existing land-use patterns in existing communities. The Edge Area is designated for medium to low density development in commercial areas and traditional suburban development in residential areas.

The Claymont Business Owners Association (CBOA) sees the Claymont Hometown Overlay Zoning District, with its Community Redevelopment Plan and Manual of Design Guidelines, as an important economic development tool. CBOA President Brett Saddler and other business leaders hope it will spark investment, create new jobs, and provide for new shopping, dining, and entertainment opportunities. They believe that the Plan and Manual will provide developers and investors with a clear idea of where the community will support infill, redevelopment, and new development.

These business leaders are in the process of creating the Claymont Renaissance Development Corporation (CRDC) to facilitate economic development in Claymont and they see the Overlay, Plan, and Manual as a
Claymont Renaissance initiative. Because the Plan and Design Guidelines will supercede UDC standards, the requirement for myriad variances from the Board of Adjustment to develop in the area should be eliminated. In addition, based upon the four years of visioning and planning, the community has already coordinated with the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) on planned roadway and streetscape improvements which will make development in the community more attractive.

At its August 17, 2004 Business Meeting, the Planning Board accepted the Department of Land Use's recommendation of Conditional Approval for the Claymont Hometown Overlay Zoning Districts with its Redevelopment Plan and Design Guidelines. The Hockessin Village Community Redevelopment Plan was approved at the same meeting.